Metabolic Adaptation Plan
Russellb97
Posts: 1,057 Member
I see so many posts here from those who are stuck, in a plateau or even gaining weight. I know the frustration that comes with trying to lose weight and pain of gaining it back. Science is proving that diets themselves are what make long-term weight loss nearly impossible due to Metabolic Adaptation or what was once called "starvation mode". Short-term dieting needs to be avoided at all costs. Success isn't just losing weight, it's losing it and keeping it off. This isn't a quick-fix. Day one shouldn't be diet day one it should be lifestyle plan day one.
Only a small percentage of those who lose weight keep it off long-term, and the majority of those people have to be more active and eat less calories due to a slower metabolism.
However in my journey I have been able to avoid the slowdown and lost 100lbs 12 years-ago and another 30lbs since.
To me the most important factor in determining weight-loss success is metabolism so therefor the conventional methods won't work. Studies have shown that Leptin, which is the main hormone that sparks metabolic adaptation, is acutely responsive to 24hr energy balances but it takes several days and weeks of calorie restriction to be a real nuisance. The good news is Leptin is also highly responsive to a positive energy balance.
There's no "set weight", I don't believe our body takes inventory of fat storage, otherwise it wouldn't be so stingy with letting it go. Instead it is tracking energy balance and I believe it's tracking it daily following a 24 hour clock like a Circadian rhythm and while we sleep it's tweaking resting metabolic rate to find homeostasis.
The trick for my success is breaking the pattern of dieting with a 24 hour calorie surplus one day every week. It's obviously enough to keep metabolism honest and if done right you are still in a weekly deficit. The calorie surplus is an emphatic message to your body that there's plenty of food around and it's ok to go back to normal.
I owe the life I have to living this plan. I have a fit body and I still get to eat what I love every single week.
The best way to do this is take your weekly calories you'd normally spread over 7 days and divide it by 8 instead because day 7 is actually a 2XCal day.
For example, if you have 14,000 calories over a week. Instead of 2,000 a day. Take 14,000/8
=1,750
6 Days you are around 1,750
One day at 3,500
That's the plan in a "nutshell"
I call my 2X day my Spike Day. It's not cheating and while I do focus on eating a lot of carbs it's also not a true refeed day. It's really whatever I want to eat and it spikes leptin and my mood.
The mental benefits are just as amazing as the metabolic benefits. I hope you give it a shot.
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I'm not sure I can give it a shot. MFP has me at 1300 cals a day to lose a pound a week. To follow your plan I would be eating 1138 cals for six days a week and 2275 cals for one day. I'm not sure I'd be able to maintain a regime of 6 days of 1138 cals for longer than a month. What I'm doing instead is 5 days of around 1600 (on average) and 2 days of 500 as per the 5:2 Fast diet - because 1300 cals 7 days a week just makes me sad too.1
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So your plan is basically a caloric deficit and refeed? I don't think this is ground breaking or new!3
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trigden1991 wrote: »So your plan is basically a caloric deficit and refeed? I don't think this is ground breaking or new!
But with a healthy dose of broscience behind the scenes.11 -
I mentioned something like that a few weeks ago to someone on here. Of course there are some skeptics that don't believe it to be true, but what works for one doesn't work for all. My body works like that. I can be at a deficit every day but the scale won't move. When I go about 300 over my calories, I lose 1 1/2-2 lbs the next day. I have to eat over my limit 1-2x a week, about every 3-4 days. I think there is some truth to what you're saying in that we're giving our metabolism a shock.3
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So our metabolisms slows and we can maintain our weight with less calories after we lose a lot of weight? WHAT MAGIC IS THIS?! Thermodynamics?!
Here's a discussion on reverse dieting that sheds quite a bit of light on this very subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swrul81qco8 0 -
@Russellb97 - your way wouldn't work for me, but that's fine, there are many paths up the mountain. You look fabulous - well done!1
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Periodic refeeds during caloric restriction can actually prevent this instead of waiting until you are in one. I am not sure each week is necessary.0
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Russellb97 wrote: »The best way to do this is take your weekly calories you'd normally spread over 7 days and divide it by 8 instead because day 7 is actually a 2XCal day.
For example, if you have 14,000 calories over a week. Instead of 2,000 a day. Take 14,000/8
=1,750
6 Days you are around 1,750
One day at 3,500
That's the plan in a "nutshell"
I call my 2X day my Spike Day. It's not cheating and while I do focus on eating a lot of carbs it's also not a true refeed day. It's really whatever I want to eat and it spikes leptin and my mood.
The mental benefits are just as amazing as the metabolic benefits. I hope you give it a shot.
Just curious, if you were doing a 6-day a week workout (I am) would you put those 3500 calories on your rest day, or on one of your lower cal days?
I don't see your method as a huge issue one way or another, since weekly calories still even out. I'm not at the point where I can even out my calories yet (just doesn't work for me yet.. but getting there) because I burn so much more on different days of the week (weekends I typically burn 30% more calories). So I end up with a calorie load of around 2800 a day 6 days a week and somewhere around 2000 calories on my rest day to stay at maintenance. Your method actually appeals to me, and it may be something I try down the road.1 -
trigden1991 wrote: »So your plan is basically a caloric deficit and refeed? I don't think this is ground breaking or new!
True, but it seems like many people here are struggling with it. I wrote this after reading multiple posts about being stuck in a plateau. When I first began posting about this 12-13 years-ago on other sites I was told it was insignificant or "bro-science" and that my body would figure it out and I'd gain it all back. People can be cruel on message boards.
This is no longer "bro-science" but just science, my body after 12 years has yet to figure me out and this is very significant. I grew up overweight and I tried dieting too many times to count. This way of eating not only works to drop the weight but it keeps metabolism from nose-diving making maintaining weight-loss so much easier.
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Mycophilia wrote: »So our metabolisms slows and we can maintain our weight with less calories after we lose a lot of weight? WHAT MAGIC IS THIS?! Thermodynamics?!
Here's a discussion on reverse dieting that sheds quite a bit of light on this very subject:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swrul81qco8
Metabolic Adaptation goes far beyond; less body weight = less energy used.
I always knew there was more to losing weight than "eat less and exercise more" because I've done just that over and over again. Sure I'd lose weight at the beginning but I'd hit a point of little weight loss and extreme food cravings. That's when I'd give up. Some would say I lacked "will power" and some actually accused me of lying on my food logs. Well these studies prove there was something else going on after all.
I totally agree that it ultimately comes down to calories in versus calories out. Truth is if you stop eating you will lose weight. However the point isn't just losing weight it's sustained weight-loss and for that metabolism is the key.
"Adaptive thermogenesis can make a difference in the ability of obese individuals to lose body weight."
Int J Obes (Lond). 2013 Jun;37(6):759-64
"Many studies have also documented the existence of adaptive thermogenesis in the context of weight loss, which represents a greater-than-predicted decrease in energy expenditure. In this paper, we pursue the analysis of this phenomenon by demonstrating that an adaptive decrease in thermogenesis can have a major role in the occurrence of resistance to further lose fat in weight-reduced obese individuals."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22846776 -3X
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Spliner1969 wrote: »Russellb97 wrote: »The best way to do this is take your weekly calories you'd normally spread over 7 days and divide it by 8 instead because day 7 is actually a 2XCal day.
For example, if you have 14,000 calories over a week. Instead of 2,000 a day. Take 14,000/8
=1,750
6 Days you are around 1,750
One day at 3,500
That's the plan in a "nutshell"
I call my 2X day my Spike Day. It's not cheating and while I do focus on eating a lot of carbs it's also not a true refeed day. It's really whatever I want to eat and it spikes leptin and my mood.
The mental benefits are just as amazing as the metabolic benefits. I hope you give it a shot.
Just curious, if you were doing a 6-day a week workout (I am) would you put those 3500 calories on your rest day, or on one of your lower cal days?
I don't see your method as a huge issue one way or another, since weekly calories still even out. I'm not at the point where I can even out my calories yet (just doesn't work for me yet.. but getting there) because I burn so much more on different days of the week (weekends I typically burn 30% more calories). So I end up with a calorie load of around 2800 a day 6 days a week and somewhere around 2000 calories on my rest day to stay at maintenance. Your method actually appeals to me, and it may be something I try down the road.
I have my high calorie on a rest day so it's a total break from diet and exercise. Also I have amazing workouts the day after the rest day with all of the stored glycogen and recovery.0 -
Seems a bit prescriptive but I'm completely behind dealing with your calorie allowance on a weekly rather than daily basis
Some days you're hungrier, some you're going out, some you don't really care ..best to be flexible for me
But no bro-science or promises
Just easier to stick to3 -
Also I thought the concept of refeed required at least a couple of weeks at maintenance to replenish depleted leptin0
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Russellb97 wrote: »Spliner1969 wrote: »Russellb97 wrote: »The best way to do this is take your weekly calories you'd normally spread over 7 days and divide it by 8 instead because day 7 is actually a 2XCal day.
For example, if you have 14,000 calories over a week. Instead of 2,000 a day. Take 14,000/8
=1,750
6 Days you are around 1,750
One day at 3,500
That's the plan in a "nutshell"
I call my 2X day my Spike Day. It's not cheating and while I do focus on eating a lot of carbs it's also not a true refeed day. It's really whatever I want to eat and it spikes leptin and my mood.
The mental benefits are just as amazing as the metabolic benefits. I hope you give it a shot.
Just curious, if you were doing a 6-day a week workout (I am) would you put those 3500 calories on your rest day, or on one of your lower cal days?
I don't see your method as a huge issue one way or another, since weekly calories still even out. I'm not at the point where I can even out my calories yet (just doesn't work for me yet.. but getting there) because I burn so much more on different days of the week (weekends I typically burn 30% more calories). So I end up with a calorie load of around 2800 a day 6 days a week and somewhere around 2000 calories on my rest day to stay at maintenance. Your method actually appeals to me, and it may be something I try down the road.
I have my high calorie on a rest day so it's a total break from diet and exercise. Also I have amazing workouts the day after the rest day with all of the stored glycogen and recovery.
Did you ever thought about that your 'Metabolic Adaptation' can actually just be a break from water retention? With all that stored glycogen after your spike day you pulled a lot of water out of your body for the storage of glycogen. After you go on a deficit again you are loosing this glycogen and water and you have your 'break in plateau'. look up dry carb refeed, even whooshes fits your post from last week with your long plateau and doing anything right better then this metabolic adaption. I know you are selling this and want to make some money but to me its bro sciences. And to be honest even to you this has to be bro-sciences because you are just connecting idea's and have zero experimental data to back this up.
Not that whooshes are true! just saying, its fits the same story
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/
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Refeeds are also used to replenish macro's. I don't really see what I've been doing the past 12+ years as a typical refeed. It's a day off to restore, recover and enjoy food & life.Also I thought the concept of refeed required at least a couple of weeks at maintenance to replenish depleted leptin
Also, Leptin can stay low at maintenance calories after dieting so I have a purposeful calorie surplus. Having it weekly keeps leptin from dropping too low.0 -
I refeed once a week for my sanity so I get it. Glad it worked for you, OP.1
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hjlourenshj wrote: »Russellb97 wrote: »Spliner1969 wrote: »Russellb97 wrote: »The best way to do this is take your weekly calories you'd normally spread over 7 days and divide it by 8 instead because day 7 is actually a 2XCal day.
For example, if you have 14,000 calories over a week. Instead of 2,000 a day. Take 14,000/8
=1,750
6 Days you are around 1,750
One day at 3,500
That's the plan in a "nutshell"
I call my 2X day my Spike Day. It's not cheating and while I do focus on eating a lot of carbs it's also not a true refeed day. It's really whatever I want to eat and it spikes leptin and my mood.
The mental benefits are just as amazing as the metabolic benefits. I hope you give it a shot.
Just curious, if you were doing a 6-day a week workout (I am) would you put those 3500 calories on your rest day, or on one of your lower cal days?
I don't see your method as a huge issue one way or another, since weekly calories still even out. I'm not at the point where I can even out my calories yet (just doesn't work for me yet.. but getting there) because I burn so much more on different days of the week (weekends I typically burn 30% more calories). So I end up with a calorie load of around 2800 a day 6 days a week and somewhere around 2000 calories on my rest day to stay at maintenance. Your method actually appeals to me, and it may be something I try down the road.
I have my high calorie on a rest day so it's a total break from diet and exercise. Also I have amazing workouts the day after the rest day with all of the stored glycogen and recovery.
Did you ever thought about that your 'Metabolic Adaptation' can actually just be a break from water retention? With all that stored glycogen after your spike day you pulled a lot of water out of your body for the storage of glycogen. After you go on a deficit again you are loosing this glycogen and water and you have your 'break in plateau'. look up dry carb refeed, even whooshes fits your post from last week with your long plateau and doing anything right better then this metabolic adaption. I know you are selling this and want to make some money but to me its bro sciences. And to be honest even to you this has to be bro-sciences because you are just connecting idea's and have zero experimental data to back this up.
Not that whooshes are true! just saying, its fits the same story
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/
I understand what you you're saying but I'm posting here because my experience can help someone. You can call this bro-science if you want and yeah I've had to connect a few dots. The fact is there are dots to connect that show why I was able to lose 100lbs in less than a year and another 30lbs over the next 10.
Instead of struggling to maintain, I've breezed through it. The difference is night and day.3 -
Russellb97 wrote: »
Refeeds are also used to replenish macro's. I don't really see what I've been doing the past 12+ years as a typical refeed. It's a day off to restore, recover and enjoy food & life.Also I thought the concept of refeed required at least a couple of weeks at maintenance to replenish depleted leptin
Also, Leptin can stay low at maintenance calories after dieting so I have a purposeful calorie surplus. Having it weekly keeps leptin from dropping too low.
Explain what repleneshing macros mean please
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The emphasis of the refeed is a macro not calories. Basically I was told you fast from either fats, carbs or protein short-term and then focus refeed on it for a day. I don't practice this, it's just what I've heard.
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Russellb97 wrote: »hjlourenshj wrote: »Russellb97 wrote: »Spliner1969 wrote: »Russellb97 wrote: »The best way to do this is take your weekly calories you'd normally spread over 7 days and divide it by 8 instead because day 7 is actually a 2XCal day.
For example, if you have 14,000 calories over a week. Instead of 2,000 a day. Take 14,000/8
=1,750
6 Days you are around 1,750
One day at 3,500
That's the plan in a "nutshell"
I call my 2X day my Spike Day. It's not cheating and while I do focus on eating a lot of carbs it's also not a true refeed day. It's really whatever I want to eat and it spikes leptin and my mood.
The mental benefits are just as amazing as the metabolic benefits. I hope you give it a shot.
Just curious, if you were doing a 6-day a week workout (I am) would you put those 3500 calories on your rest day, or on one of your lower cal days?
I don't see your method as a huge issue one way or another, since weekly calories still even out. I'm not at the point where I can even out my calories yet (just doesn't work for me yet.. but getting there) because I burn so much more on different days of the week (weekends I typically burn 30% more calories). So I end up with a calorie load of around 2800 a day 6 days a week and somewhere around 2000 calories on my rest day to stay at maintenance. Your method actually appeals to me, and it may be something I try down the road.
I have my high calorie on a rest day so it's a total break from diet and exercise. Also I have amazing workouts the day after the rest day with all of the stored glycogen and recovery.
Did you ever thought about that your 'Metabolic Adaptation' can actually just be a break from water retention? With all that stored glycogen after your spike day you pulled a lot of water out of your body for the storage of glycogen. After you go on a deficit again you are loosing this glycogen and water and you have your 'break in plateau'. look up dry carb refeed, even whooshes fits your post from last week with your long plateau and doing anything right better then this metabolic adaption. I know you are selling this and want to make some money but to me its bro sciences. And to be honest even to you this has to be bro-sciences because you are just connecting idea's and have zero experimental data to back this up.
Not that whooshes are true! just saying, its fits the same story
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/
I understand what you you're saying but I'm posting here because my experience can help someone. You can call this bro-science if you want and yeah I've had to connect a few dots. The fact is there are dots to connect that show why I was able to lose 100lbs in less than a year and another 30lbs over the next 10.
Instead of struggling to maintain, I've breezed through it. The difference is night and day.
Yeah its good that you want to help people loose weight but do you realize that you are saying stuff that you don't back up with scientific data? You draw some lines between theories and for that reason alone it is already bro-sciences. I'm happy for you that you lost that weight but to be honest, its because of your behavioral changes0 -
Also I thought the concept of refeed required at least a couple of weeks at maintenance to replenish depleted leptin
From my research, 2 weeks is approximately the time it would need to get leptin levels back to baseline, but once you go into an energy deficit, leptin would drop again. I am not sure this would prevent that, but if it works, then more power.
I do know a lot of people who save calories for one day as a means to keep their sanity or realize they tend to go out with friends. If it helps you sustain an overall deficit, I would suggest it's a good plan to sustain.0 -
Too much bro science wrapped in with it so not worth my time reading any further.0
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Russellb97 wrote: »The emphasis of the refeed is a macro not calories. Basically I was told you fast from either fats, carbs or protein short-term and then focus refeed on it for a day. I don't practice this, it's just what I've heard.
What does that mean?
Why would one refeed a macro? Of course in order to cut calories one necessarily cuts macros cos every calorie is made up of fats, protein and carbs in some combination ....are you saying your refeed targets a specific macro or is it just (which is what I'd expect) "yippee I've got 3000+ calories.... omnomnom"
Surely in your defecit you consumed adequate protein for cell repair and muscle preservation and fats to aid nutrient absorption?
Don't get me wrong I think your progress is excellent and your way of eating is certainly close to what many round here do eg monitor defecit across the week. What I don't get is the benefit of the specificity of doubling on one day, beyond diet adherence of course0 -
Also I thought the concept of refeed required at least a couple of weeks at maintenance to replenish depleted leptin
From my research, 2 weeks is approximately the time it would need to get leptin levels back to baseline, but once you go into an energy deficit, leptin would drop again. I am not sure this would prevent that, but if it works, then more power.
I do know a lot of people who save calories for one day as a means to keep their sanity or realize they tend to go out with friends. If it helps you sustain an overall deficit, I would suggest it's a good plan to sustain.
Actually leptin is far more responsive to overfeeding post-calorie restriction, studies show in as little as 12 hours. And while it will indeed start dropping again when back to calorie restriction it also comes right back up again after the next weekly refeed. This is about long-term weight loss.
"Leptin levels in fasted subjects returned to baseline within 12 h of refeeding"
The effect of a 3-day fast followed by refeeding on plasma leptin levels is shown in Fig. 1. Compliance with the fast was established by decreases in the 0800 h plasma insulin level from 9.9 ± 4.8 to 5.1 ± 2.2 μU/mL (P < 0.0005), the plasma glucose level from 71.1 ± 11.0 to 44.8± 15.6 mg/dL (P < 0.0005), and a qualitative increase in first void urinary ketones from the 1st to the 3rd day of the fast. Leptin levels measured on day 3 of the fast were lower than those measured during the control (P < 0.01) and refeeding (P < 0.02) days at all time points studied, whereas the levels on the control and refeeding days were indistinguishable from each other. - See more at: http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jcem.82.2.3757#sthash.Esedt4Ye.dpuf
http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jcem.82.2.3757
Another one showing baseline at 24 hours;
(Kolaczynski et al Diabetes 45: 1511-1515, 1996).
During the first part of this study, researchers found that after 36h of fasting, Leptin decreased by 77% while after 60h of fasting, Leptin decreased by 82%.
During the second part of the study (the data plotted above), authors found that Leptin decreased by 20% after 12h and 65% after 36h of fasting. However after 12 h of refeeding, Leptin increased to 62% of normal and after 24h refeeding, leptin increased to 100% of normal.
This data indicates that 12h fasting is sufficient to reduce serum leptin dramatically - this is concomitant with decreased insulin and increased glucagon, cortisol, catecholamines, and GH. They also indicate that a normal single meal has negligible impact on leptin - it takes prolonged feedings to impact Leptin concentrations.
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I have a theory that energy homeostasis is a switch that follows a circadian rhythm so that day to day energy balance is what triggers metabolic adaptation. It has very little to do with our weight and the amount of fat on our bodies.
When I was overweight. I was always confused by the reason why I'd ever feel "hungry". When I weighed over 300lbs I literally had months of excess calories stored on my body so why do I feel like I'm starving? Then I learned about ghrelin and leptin and realized that my body isn't tracking stored energy it's tacking day to day energy balance and looking to get me back in energy homeostasis. This is why it's so important to break the cycle of caloric deficits with even just a small surplus. An energy surplus in just one day switches the adaptation off.
This is why I lost 100lbs in 11 months and not only kept it off for 10+ years, I even lost another 30lbs.2 -
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OP,
Do you eat more on the days you work out or it's always "6 Days you are around 1,750" (I know it's just an example)?
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What would be the formula for 1700 daily calories?
6 day calorie goal = (TDEE-deficit)*7/8
1 day "break" Calorie goal = 2*(6 day calorie goal)
Is that what you are asking?
So if your current daily calories are 1700, then you would eat 1700*7/8=1487 calories 6 days a week, then 2975 calories the last day. I would assume that this is NET calories, so eat back your exercise calories.2
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